Good Advice
by Spring Zephyr
Summary: Kozoumaru and Norika discuss their plans and training methods after they fail to qualify for Inazuma Japan. A strange girl from the future offers her input.


**This fic is the combination of a crack fic I've been threatening to write since the first few episodes about Beta being in Ares, and me complaining that ****the**** Kozoumaru ****from Ares and Orion****might as well be ****different characters. Or in the words of UnderdogHero, "Kozoumaru's personality disappeared so fast [after Ares] I can't get a good grip of it".**

**Sorry to anyone who likes Orion Kozoumaru more than I do, lol. But I still think making him a Super Saiyan Naruto version of Gouenji was the wrong choice.**

After the members for Inazuma Japan were announced, Norika and Kozoumaru walked back to Kogarashi Manor together. There was nothing else they could do.

They hadn't made the team.

"So what do we do now?" Norika asked.

"I have no intention of giving up so easily," Kozoumaru answered, although as was typical for Kozoumaru, it was hard to tell what was going through his mind. Asuto claimed he'd seen him smile at least once, but Norika wasn't convinced he was telling the truth. She'd seen Kozoumaru utilizing his trademark glare against pictures of kittens playing before.

"I feel the same way," said Norika.

"I have no choice but to seclude myself in the nearby woods, isolating myself from society and using every obstacle I face as a chance to improve myself. Foraging for food. Creating obstacle courses using nothing but the trees around me."

Norika hesitated before replying, "I was just going to get a haircut."  
"I may even have to fight a bear."

"Or," Norika suggested, wondering how crazy this was going to sound in comparison, "we could go to a salon and get our hair cut together."

She wasn't as close to Kozoumaru as she was, say, Asuto or Iwato, but that didn't mean she wanted him to get mauled by a bear. Even if he glared at pictures of cute and fuzzy kittens.

"Neither of those methods is going to work," a third voice says.

The voice was high-pitched and sweet and a little bit melancholy, but mostly it was unexpected, and that was what caused Norika to jump in response. After a moment of searching, she found the source – a girl with fluffy, cyan-colored hair sitting on a crate in the alley leading back to their dorm, which she and Kozoumaru use as a shortcut mostly because no one else is ever in it. She sat hunched over, resting her head in her hands, and looked incredibly bored.

"Who's to say – "

Kozoumaru interrupted before Norika could finish her protest, and she _wanted_ to protest. "What makes you such an expert?"

Immediately, the girl stood up, and – Norika swore she wasn't imagining it – her voice became several times deeper. "I once outlawed soccer using soccer." In her original tone of voice, she smiled and pumped her fists in the air. "You can call me Beta, okay?"

"You outlawed… That makes no sense!" Norika huffed. "We just got back from playing a soccer tournament, and soccer is alive and well and still perfectly legal in every country. The Football Frontier International is starting soon!"

"And, oh no! Let me guess, you two weren't picked for the team?" Beta replied. "_It's probably because you suck!_ Too bad!"

"Rude!" Norika snapped back.

"Weakling!"

While Norika was busy wearing down her teeth, Kozoumaru was just… glaring at her. The same stupid, probably doesn't like kittens glare as always. "Can you really help us get stronger?" he asked.

"Kozoumaru!"

"It's either this or cutting your hair, Norika!"

"Getting a haircut wasn't the only thing I was going to do!" Norika protested. "I was actually going to train – "

"Tell us your methods," Kozoumaru said. The way he glared at Beta seemed slightly softer than usual. Kind of like how he looked at Gouenji, now that Norika thought about it. "Teach us how to get stronger."

"Well..." Beta tapped her chin. Normally, such an action would look contemplative or thoughtful, but Norika got the impression that Beta had already made up her mind. "I don't have time to train the two of you, but I _am_ in a good mood today. I'll give you some advice instead."

"It's not going to be 'get good', is it?" Norika asked.

"Tempting, but I'm not that mean. Actually, I was just going to say that if you try too hard to do everything yourself, it will eventually come back to bite you."

That advice sounded like it would apply to Kozoumaru more than herself, but his reaction to it was as stagnant as usual. As far as Norika knew, Kozoumaru had always trained in solitude, especially prior to his family's move to Inakuni.

Asking for his sake, Norika said, "How is that supposed to be helpful advice?"  
Beta sighed. "Okay. I'll give you an example. Say you're playing a game, and someone on the other team finally masters their Avatar's armour or uses a special technique that your goalkeeper has never seen before. Know what you should _not_ do? Jump in the way of your goalkeeper and try to block the shot yourself."

"Avatar?"

"In about ten years from now, everyone is going to learn how to play soccer with these big, spirity things called Avatars. They represent your fighting spirit. Anyway, be sure not to do what I just described..."

"Okay. Useless information aside, that sounds like terrible advice!" There had been a few situations where Norika had needed to rely on her teammates for assistance, but they'd been helping her, not pushing her out of the way. "Of course you shouldn't do that! That's just – well, isn't that really bad?"

"_Well,_" Beta emphasized the word in a way that was clearly mockery, "the short one did ask me to help. I'm afraid that's all I have to offer."

It took Norika a moment to remember that, yes, Kozoumaru had asked if Beta could make them stronger. "Then I'd like to ask you for some advice also!" Norika said. "When you say we shouldn't try to do everything on our own, does that include not going off by yourself to train in the woods alone and potentially having to fight a bear?"

"Of course. Definitely don't do that." Beta grimaced and Kozoumaru scoffed, folding his arms stubbornly. "Bears are the worst. Especially if they can talk… and rabbits."

Then she stood up.

"I have to go now. Laters."

Beta walked to the end of the alley, turned the corner, and just like that, she was gone. Disappeared. Norika and Kozoumaru couldn't find her again no matter where they looked.

"That was strange," Norika commented some time later. "I didn't just imagine that, did I?"

Kozoumaru replied, "Couldn't have, because I saw her too."

"Strange," Norika said again. Looking directly at Kozoumaru, she added, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather get a haircut and do some nice, safe training with my tire instead?"  
"The forest is calling my name, Norika."

"I guess that's a no."

** All Kozoumaru had to do was take the advice of a potentially crazy time traveler, haha.**


End file.
